Fernando Camargo, PhD
Principal Investigator at Children's Hospital Boston
Assistant Professor in the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology at Harvard University

Dr. Camargo received a PhD from Baylor College of Medicine in 2004, studying the developmental plasticity of adult somatic stem cells in the laboratory of Dr. Margaret Goodell. Dr. Camargo then became a Whitehead Fellow at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, where he directed a laboratory focused on the regulation of stem cell proliferation and differentiation and the mechanisms that control tissue size in mammals. He joined Children’s Hospital and the Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology Department at Harvard University in 2009. Dr. Camargo was named a 2009 V Foundation Scholar and is the recipient of the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award.

His laboratory’s ultimate goal is to understand the signals that regulate adult stem cell maturation and tissue regeneration. Currently, the main focus of the lab is the study and identification of the signals that regulate organ size and control tissue symmetry. The biology of the signals that sense the size and limit the expansion of tissues is one of the least understood aspects of developmental biology, and one that could have important implications for regenerative medicine. In addition, this research may also shed light on the relationship between tissue size checkpoints and tumor suppression. His laboratory also has a strong interest in studying the cellular and molecular biology of hematopoietic stem cells. His group’s studies focus primarily on the in vivo roles of transcription factors and microRNAs in stem cell fate decisions, differentiation, and malignancy.

Spotlight

The secret lives of stem cells

Under an NIH New Innovator Award, Fernando Camargo, PhD is using genetic tags as “barcodes” to track the live, day-to-day workings of adult stem cells in mice, following the differentiation of individual stem cells and their offspring over time. Although this work involves blood stem cells, it’s applicable to a variety of tissues and may give clues to regenerative treatments for multiple diseases.